Debbie and Larry Ramaekers of Orange have been foster parents to more than a dozen children placed through Canyon Acres Children and Family Services. They’ve opened up their home to many children, including one they ultimately adopted.

ORANGE – Debbie and Larry Ramaekers of Orange always knew they would open the doors of their home to another child. It was just a matter of when.

As their own children entered their teen and pre-teen years, the couple decided it was time to become foster parents to children who needed a safe place to call home, even if it was temporary.

Thirteen years ago, the couple answered a PennySaver advertisement about an agency and started their journey to becoming foster parents. The agency, which later became Orange-based Canyon Acres Children and Family Services, worked with families like the Ramaekers, to provide homes and care for abused and neglected children.

“It’s a very rewarding thing and you get your heart broken … There’s such a need for foster parents. It just really feels good that you can help out with the kids,” said Debbie, 55, who also adopted a little boy she had fostered.

Canyon Acres Children and Family Services is one of eight charities selected to receive funds from The Orange County Register’s Season of Caring campaign. The charities were identified through The Possible Dream, a program of the Festival of Children Foundation that connects donors to charities that provide tangible, critical services to children.

The designated children’s charities will receive 100 percent of the funds raised during the campaign.

Canyon Acres’ Possible Dream is to provide a medical program to find, train and provide supportive services to foster and adoptive families that want to help children with special medical needs and developmental disabilities, from severe asthma to HIV.

Over the years, Debbie and Larry, 59, have fostered 14 children, including sets of siblings and other children who needed a temporary home from four months to a few years.

Four years ago, the couple welcomed a 2-week-old boy who would likely have muscular dystrophy when he got older. After two years of raising the boy and reunification between him and his biological family fell through, the Ramaekers decided they couldn’t let him go.

Their son, now 4, is an active little one who attends a special education preschool and receives occupational and physical therapy.

The retired couple, also grandparents, continues to foster other children, including a 2-year-old girl who is in the process of being adopted by another family.

Canyon Acres has also been a great resource throughout the years, including offering extensive training, support groups and social and respite workers, Debbie said. And though being a foster family is not for everyone, the Ramaekers say their experiences have been rich and rewarding.

“(The children) get to experience what a family should be, be in a safe environment and see a normal family,” Debbie said.

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.